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Bekele, not Gebrselassie, the favourite
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PICK OF THE DAY
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Select woman coach for woman lifter, IWF told
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There are people who feel Jackie Joyner-Kersee is the greatest all around athlete ever. When she was 14 years old, Jackie won her first junior national title in pentathlon. She was an excellent basketball and volleyball player. She was also an important player on the basketball team. Her coach Bob Kersee wanted her to train only in track. She went to the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles and won the silver in heptathlon. She came to dominate the heptathlon. She broke the 7,000-point barrier with 7,148 at Goodwill Games. In the 1988 Olympics Jackie won gold medals in heptathlon and long jump. Jackie also got the gold in heptathlon in the 1992 Olympics and got third place in long jump. In 1996 she won her last medal in the Olympics, a bronze in the long jump. Sports Illustrated voted her the greatest female athlete of the 20th century One defeat in seven years provided American backstroker Aaron Peirsol with all the motivation he needed to get in the best shape of his life for the Beijing Olympics. The Californian, who turns 25 on July 23, has dominated men's backstroke since taking over from compatriot Lenny Krayzelburg, who won three gold medals at the Sydney Olympics. A serial world record-breaker, Peirsol won three golds in Athens and also has a stack of world titles to his credit, but it was a rare loss last year that drove him to greater heights. ''You can get kind of comfortable where I was,'' he said this month. ''I'm beginning to learn that's not always the best place to be.''
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100 m dash
London, July 22 Despite being badly tainted by the doping revelations that felled the men's winner from four years ago and the 2000 women's champion Marion Jones, the sport's blue riband race remains the most magnetic event of the Games. At the other end of the scale the men's 10,000 metres could feature a 27-minute chess match between Olympic champion Kenenisa Bekele and Haile Gebrselassie, the Ethiopian compatriot he usurped as the world's leading distance runner. Chinese attention will focus on the 110 metres hurdles where Liu Xiang, the first man from his country to win an Olympic track gold medal, will try to repel Cuban Dayron Robles who took his world record in June. Kenya's Pamela Jelimo, 18, will be the focus of attention on the women's side after her astonishing 800 metres performances this season and Ethiopia's Tirunesh Dibaba will be trying to take both long distance golds. The men's 100 metres in Athens four years ago was a classic, with the first five men breaking 10 seconds for the first time. Jamaican Powell came in fifth in 9.94 behind winner Justin Gatlin of the USA, who was later banned for doping. A year later, on the same track, Powell set a world record of 9.77 and improved it to 9.74 in 2007. Compatriot Bolt moved the mark on to 9.72 this year while Gay posted 9.77 plus a wind-assisted 9.68, the fastest time recorded for the distance. All three are capable of taking gold and the world record with it in the final on Aug. 16. Powell was favourite in the world championships a year ago but managed only bronze behind winner Gay. It was a performance that raised questions over the Jamaican's temperament after he admitted giving up once he realised he would not win. Injuries have limited his work this year and Gay also suffering a hamstring problem in the U.S. trials that ended his hopes of making the 200 metres team. ''This year for the first time all eyes will be on Bolt and Gay. Definitely after the disappointments of recent years when I was favourite, I prefer this sort of situation,'' Powell said. Bolt’s progress
Bolt's progress in the 100 metres was a surprise for a man better known for the 200, in which he took silver behind Gay in the world championships. Clearly the fastest over 200 this season, the 21-year-old will hope to prevent a repeat of the U.S. clean sweep of 2004. The 400 metres is another intriguing race where LaShawn Merritt's dogged trailing of Olympic and world champion Jeremy Wariner is starting to pay dividends with two confidence-boosting wins, including in the U.S. Olympic trials. ''Once I got into the home stretch I was smelling Beijing and victory,'' Merritt said after that qualifying success against a man he has followed across the line too many times to remember. Bekele and Gebrselassie are similarly well-acquainted, though their head-to-head record is thin because Gebrselassie moved up to marathon after being elbowed aside as the 10km king by his younger compatriot. Bekele, 26, owns the world records for 5,000 and 10,000 that used to be Gebrselassie's and also inherited his Olympic and world titles over the longer distance. Gebrselassie, 35, opted out of the marathon because of his concerns over Beijing's air quality and will need to roll back the years to add to his golds of 2000 and 2004. Bekele took silver in the 5,000 four years ago. Having spent most of the year denying he would attempt the double, he now says he may have a go at becoming the first to achieve it since compatriot Miruts Yifter 28 years ago. Liu has been a national hero since Athens and he cemented his reputation by making the world record his own two years later. As if the expectations of 1 billion people did not provide enough pressure, he now has a fearsome rival in 21-year-old Robles who set a world record of 12.87 in June. The waif-like Jelimo has run only a handful of 800 metre races but her early-season time of 1 minute 54.99 seconds is way ahead of anyone else this season and the fastest in the event for almost 11 years. Jelimo and Croatia's world champion high jumper Blanka Vlasic are the only athletes still in the running for the Golden League jackpot. The shortest odds on gold will be in the pole vault where world and Olympic champion Yelena Isinbayeva, who extended her own world record to 5.03 metres in July, would need to suffer a disaster not to retain her title. Dibaba, twice a world champion at 5,000 and 10,000 metres, is vastly experienced despite being only 23 and with her devastating last-lap finishes she stands a real chance of becoming the first woman to win both golds at the same Games. Dibaba broke the world 5,000 metres record by five seconds in Oslo in June and the previous holder of the mark, compatriot Meseret Defar, poses a serious threat to her Olympic hopes.
— Reuters |
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Bekele, not
Gebrselassie, the favourite
London, July 22 If, as expected, the two men line up for the 10,000 metres final in Beijing it will be world record holder, Olympic and triple world champion Bekele who will be the hot favourite. Bekele, 26, has a remarkable record of consistency, winning championship titles, setting world records and dominating cross country running over the past six years. This year he regained the world cross title to make it 12 wins in 13 attempts over the two senior distances. His 10,000 metres world record of 26 minutes 17.53 seconds, set in 2005, is more than five seconds faster than Gebrselassie's world mark of 1998 - itself half a minute better than William Sigie's 1994 mark that he first surpassed in 1995. Bekele also has the 5,000 world record of 12:37.35, previously held by his compatriot, a double Olympic champion at 10,000. His style is modelled on Gebrselassie too. Both men destroy their opponents with their finishing speed and it is not unusual for Bekele to post a 53-second final lap. In Athens four years ago the Ethiopians tried to run as a team to help Gebrselassie challenge for a third gold but, injured, he dropped off the pace leaving Bekele to blast through the last lap to win. Eight days later Bekele just missed out on the double when he was outkicked by Hicham El Guerrouj over the final 50 metres of the 5,000. Despite that setback 2004 remained an annus mirabilis for Bekele. Within four days of the new year, his fiancee, 18-year-old Alem Techale, died while the two were running together. Bekele recovered to win double gold again at the world cross country three months later and in that August won the second of his three consecutive 10,000 world titles. In 2007, he married Ethiopian actress Danawit Gebregziabher. She watched him in championship action for the first time when he reclaimed the world cross title in Scotland this year. He has carried that form on to the track with the fourth-fastest 10,000 metres - 26:25.97 - in an almost solo effort at the Prefontaine Classic in the United States in June. With only six days between the 10,000 and 5,000 finals in Beijing, Bekele had said he planned to run only the longer distance but it now looks possible he could double up.
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Time to demystify Mendis Colombo, July 22 The other intriguing aspect could be the introduction of a referral system by virtue of which either team can lodge three unsuccessful reviews of umpiring decisions. We could soon know if this results in lower scoring matches? Playing conditions in this island are not alien to the Indians. The wickets, though, could resemble the slower Indian pitches, thus making it imperative for the touring batsmen to negotiate good length balls off the front foot, thereby reducing the danger of being trapped leg before wicket. India, however, enter the fray with a settled opening pair in the redoubtable Virender Sehwag and his Delhi sidekick, Gautam Gambhir, with heavyweights like Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly and VVS Laxman to follow. If this half a dozen cannot blunt Murali and Mendis, no line-up in the world can. It would be foolish if Sri Lanka bowled the ultimate googly by dropping Mendis. This 23-year-old army officer bamboozled Mahendra Dhoni’s one-day international side in the recent Asia Cup final in Pakistan not merely by deception but because of the impatience of the relatively inexperienced Indian batters. Remember, the entire middle order about to render service in the ensuing Tests was missing. In Tests - the more tactical version of the sport - there is no need to mindlessly force the pace - as is sometimes the requirement in the limited over format. Consequently, the Indian masters can take their time to decipher Mendis, indeed treat him with respect, if necessary, before attacking him. Based on the evidence provided in the Asia Cup, Mendis uses his middle finger to thrust the ball forward. This generally transpires to be a top spinner, thereby baffling batsmen anticipating turn. He reminds this correspondent of John Gleeson, who appeared in Tests in the late 1960s and early 1970s. But batsmen soon unravelled this Australian’s riddle; and his eventual strike rate was no better than a wicket every 95 balls. But while the Mendis conundrum has sent Indian supporters into a tizzy, it would be a folly to overlook the threat posed by Murali and Chaminda Vaas, who even in his country’s pensive tracks has proved to be a handful. But India can be relieved that neither Lasith Malinga nor Dilhara Fernando - both quite rapid - will figure on the starting blocks in the 1st test. Indeed, Sri Lanka’s injury list also impacts on their willow potential, with the home side disproportionately dependent on the skills of Kumar Sangakkara (who will not keep wickets) and skipper Mahela Jayawardene. Thus, if the pitch at the Sinhalese Sports Club ground here turns, captain Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh could also be a worrying proposition, although the former’s record against India’s southern neighbour is not as glorious as versus other nations. Sri Lanka attained Test status only 26 years ago. But India have only triumphed away in 1993-94, while the hosts prevailed in 1985-86 and 2001. This time, though, the visitors are at full strength; and if Ishant Sharma performs at his peak, not to mention the wily Zaheer Khan, this could provide an edge. The English, who imported cricket to South Asia, correctly surmised that this was best suited to the pleasanter months rather than the searing summer heat or the mugginess of the monsoon. Admittedly, it isn’t the rainy season now in Sri Lanka, but “scattered thunderstorms” are forecast on all five days of the Test, which could, minimally, cause a few interruptions. Besides, the high humidity makes it feel five degrees hotter than it actually is. In short, not just cricketing acumen, but sweat and toil would be demanded to acquire success in the sub-continental tussle. |
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Sania in 2nd round
Los Angeles, July 22 Sania, seeded 16th, beat her Czech opponent 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of the hard court event in one hour and seven minutes. Sania has been struggling after returning to the circuit from a three-month lay off following a wrist injury as she crashed out of the Stanford West Bank Classic in the first round, losing to a British qualifier last week after a disappointing singles run at the Wimbledon Championships. The Indian ace raced away with the first set in just 30 minutes, having broken Hrdinova twice while saving three breakpoints on her own serve. In the second set, Sania was trailing 1-3 as the Czech fought back, but the Hyderabadi got into her element as she saved four breakpoints and converted two to dump Hrdinova. Devbarman wins
Lexington (USA): Indian qualifier Somdev Devbarman set up a second round clash with second seed Bobby Reynolds after carving out an impressive straight sets win 7-5, 6-2 over Jamie Baker at the $50,000 ATP Challenger tournament here. Reynolds beat Japanese Toshihide Matsui 6-4, 6-4. However, Devbarman crashed out of the doubles event after losing the first round along with American partner Rylan Rizza to Victor Estrella of Dominica Republic and Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico in three sets. Parija advances
New Delhi: India had a mixed day in the field at the $15,000 ITF event in Rabat, Morocco, as Parija Maloo advanced to the second round even as her compatriot and National Games champion Parul Goswami was knocked out. Seventh seed Parija rallied from a set down to beat Giorgia Mortello of Italy 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the first round of the clay court event. Parul, seeded fourth, went down 1-6, 5-7 in her opening round. It was second successive first round bashing for Parul, who had crashed out of the Casablanca event last week. Parija was also sent packing in the first round in the same event in Morocco. Parija will now lock horns with local favourite Lina Bennani, who defeated Ana Miguel-Ivern of Spain 6-1, 6-4 in her first round match.
— PTI |
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Hamilton to visit Mumbai tomorrow
Mumbai, July 22 The 23-year-old Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team's red hot property, who has scorched the tracks in only his second year in Formula One, would be seen driving a go-kart for a lap at the Hakone track in Powai, according to sources connected with organising his visit to India. "Hamilton will be giving Formula One enthusiasts a rare opportunity to meet him and race against the fastest time set by him. He will also be interacting with Vodafone customers and mediapersons," they said. Hamilton (58 points), who finished second overall behind Finnish ace Kimi Raikkonen in his debut Formula One season last year, is currently ahead of second-placed Brazilian Felipe Massa (Ferrari) by four points.
— PTI |
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Select woman coach for woman lifter, IWF told
New Delhi, July 22 Deodutt Sharma was selected to accompany lone woman lifter Monika Devi in Beijing at the selection trial on July 15 in Bangalore amid protest by a committee member that IWF flouted prescribed procedure to select the coach. Selection committee member and former coach Tamil Selvan and former Olympians, including Kunjarani Devi, had slammed the IWF for selecting a junior coach who, according to them, had little experience of coaching at the highest level.
— PTI |
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Born in San Fernando, Trinidad, Hasely Joachim Crawford is one of eleven children born to Lionel and Phyllis Crawford. He debuted internationally in 1970, winning a bronze medal in the 100 m at the Commonwealth Games. Two years later, he qualified for the final of the Olympics in Munich, but injured his hamstring. At the Montreal Olympics in 1976, Crawford won the 100 m, winning Trinidad and Tobago's first Olympic gold medal. He had also qualified for the 200 m final, but pulled out due after injuring his groin. Hasely is the only Trinidadian to compete in four Olympic Games as he also represented T&T at both the Moscow and Los Angeles editions in 1980 and 1984.
